Gimp is great, but it takes some time to get used to it and learn the tricks- there pretty much isn't a day where I don't find out something new! Youtube has some great Gimp-tutorials! Just give it some time...

@Maja: I guess any image editing software is like that! My hubby has been working as a graphic designer for 10 years, and today I taught him something that Marisa showed on this video, and that was new for him! Then I made a comment exactly like yours and he said that even with the software he uses the most, which is Corel Draw, he can still find new things

My brother got me started on Gimp this spring when we were getting ready for my parents 50th wedding anniversary. AFTER I had made their invitation, and those for the guests!

I to recommend the Gimp and tutorials on YouTube. I watched several of them, and have really gotten to love it! My brothers kids are in the flexography field, one will graduate in May, the other just started his Master's degree here in the USA. They of course have to know and use the Adobe's but offered the Gimp to their dad as a substitute. My brother's picky like I am about photos as one of his first jobs in college was developing film.

I've been wanting to get something good for a long time since I did art in school but hadn't touch much because of the busyness of life. I was wondering how I could afford to get the Adobe stuff since I'm not homeschooling anymore and should have more time, but my husband lost his job 2 years ago right after we purchased our first house, and he's been finding work anywhere he can. I can't work because of health problems, and was wondering if I could make some money on the side.

When I started working with GIMP, I've been SUPER PLEASED with it. I have watched several of the training videos on Adobe software trying to justify which items to buy, and I've been able to do and learn so much in GIMP that I'm continually am amazed at how much they feel like a high end software, and are still FREE. Yes they are not as user friendly as they could be, I also worked in a Computer Services Department while putting my husband through Grad School, so I know a lot of the concepts in the programming end of this.

I'll try and post some links for GIMP tutorials, and would be happy to share what I've learned if you have a specific question. Mainly, I just encourage you to get in and try some stuff! I used to teach secretaries software and help trouble shoot they systems, and the best way to learn is to get in and just play...look at ever feature one by one and have fun. Watch a few YouTubes and do something along with them. You'll love it!

I tried GIMP but the learning curve was way steeper than I could master. Could be because the tutorials I was looking at were for PCs and I'm on a Mac. I ended up buying Stampin' Up's My Digital Studio because I have used their paper products and it seemed really easy. It *is* pretty easy, and from what I understand, it's built on the My Memory Suite architecture, so that's what I put down in my profile. However, I'm still a slave to the "perfect" - I get overwhelmed with too many choices and if I can't do it "perfectly" I don't do it at all. Which is why I had paper-scrapped so little.

So one of my resolutions is to do the Photo-a-Day challenge and JUST SCRAP! Perfect or not, it's about time I just put it out there. I hope being a part of this community will help me with that. I hope to soon earn enough points to start uploading my layouts and get some helpful criticism from you art and design folks! Happy New Year!

You could also download a trial version of Photoshop Elements to see if you like it. (I use version 11 myself). Adobe is up to version 13 now, but if you find that you like the software, you could probably get 11 or 12 a bit cheaper on Amazon or Ebay.